[{"_1":2,"_100":-5,"_101":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76,88],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6081083,"mediaKeyId","2943863-d94dc0caa3b5729747cafdb4bfb768aa","parentId",2943863,"title","Board approves consent agenda, audit findings, shared-facilities IGA extension and an employee separation agreement","audioSeconds",175,"startMs",3801000,"endMs",3976000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2943863-d94dc0caa3b5729747cafdb4bfb768aa&start=3801&end=3976","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2943863-d94dc0caa3b5729747cafdb4bfb768aa/thumbnail_3801000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6081083/Illinois/Board-approves-consent-agenda-audit-findings-shared-facilities-IGA-extension-and-an-employee-separation-agreement","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6081083-83c8d4bd83c1c167c9e650f4bd40b610/orig.mp4?Expires=1770600381&Signature=VdmBeYjCEOP9gboNIlWh0a5Pw2n4KFRYtZVoWFaO0Ds-8iF6BmjxQYhwewlXbX4E-UmDNlPypmucBx9YLrSMBujAbtnq2Jhrhak6cKb11z3pF2uY5xxC9vntlPM05nmllNalz-MbnnuzrS3nXWDM29d1wFm2PeZbW6P9VxzUoF0Q8jFb-YJ61n~D1UcGkQx7zj-qgrp5y8j1oiQzm9XdGTEKyZUKaNxkew0qQDGQEwt2-USuIxkngw5Z53QXqkNn3Y4BsHh3V4CR7jiLDNrNVBg7zMVZ8UQ~kgL-7Ka~Q11xOji-eMrx6AsqjBJVrGpX7rTpKjsjX7OBd8JuGFoG7A__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Oak Park ESD 97","date","2025-04-09T13:53:52Z","article","The Oak Park Elementary School District 97 Board of Education voted on several routine items during its April 8 meeting. The board approved the consent agenda, accepted audit findings and voted to extend a shared-facilities intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the Park District of Oak Park. The board also approved a separation agreement with a district employee.

Consent agenda and calendar correction

The board approved the consent agenda as presented, with an amended attachment correcting the 2025–26 school calendar to show 182 school days. The motion passed on roll call.

Audit findings

The board accepted the district audit findings as presented. The motion to accept the audit passed on roll call.

Shared facilities IGA with Park District of Oak Park

The board voted to approve a five-year extension of the intergovernmental agreement for shared facilities with the Park District of Oak Park. The motion passed on roll call.

Separation agreement

The board approved a separation agreement between the district and an employee identified in the meeting record as Sheila Johnson. The motion passed on roll call.

Vote details

Each item passed following roll‑call votes recorded during the meeting; the board announced the motions as passed. Individual yes/no roll-call responses were recorded in the meeting record; the board announced “Motion passed” for each item.

Next steps

No further immediate action was recorded for these items beyond implementation of the calendar correction and execution of the approved agreements. The unified communications and technology-plan items discussed earlier in the meeting were not acted on and will return to the board for future consideration.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Regular Meeting - Apr 08 2025","oneSentenceSummary","At its April 8 meeting the Oak Park Elementary School District 97 Board of Education approved the consent agenda (including a corrected school calendar), accepted audit findings, extended a five-year intergovernmental agreement with the Park District of Oak Park for shared facilities and approved a separation agreement with an employee.","taxTitle","Oak Park ESD 97, School Boards, Illinois","taxId",38380,"location","Illinois","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6081089,"D97 board hears technology plan and recommends multi-year device refresh; cloud phone upgrade proposed",2773,1778000,4551000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2943863-d94dc0caa3b5729747cafdb4bfb768aa&start=1778&end=4551","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2943863-d94dc0caa3b5729747cafdb4bfb768aa/thumbnail_1778000.jpg","/articles/6081089/Illinois/D97-board-hears-technology-plan-and-recommends-multi-year-device-refresh-cloud-phone-upgrade-proposed","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6081089-19f39b8e3b7f3de594ed83ce711a0daf/orig.mp4?Expires=1770600381&Signature=hQv9Ts54zzaaVYWeYsI-Kf4bfhaALNuwHOWSyjmwhTDlePVtblKnxUmfhHaD5WEPHtLfLkGU3ep7wTwfiA79JAMSIiH9v-s0OVElijhzgbe2Jqb-WGWDBfYfNDLJqQUgYT4Rk8LCWGu9tKXjXHSSNbOEQdPmQDiti4qoeT7RW6sRW4i~IB2ZAIzJKqFTnwXuQXnbdn8NsZMDgnnjDzR3Dm~0zj4RWb57Yg-PNcwNuAp4ccJttaPjl8CZ9-fSv-vXLajJGMI-7PtyvmQQ8m00yE-dzOlheTj1KGxSEogIu-JhqTergbFt6pTgZ2l~U5bxpf7SNX7bUV2sWNYn-9uH6g__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Oak Park Elementary School District 97 technology staff on April 8 presented a technology plan that recommends a multi-year device refresh and other infrastructure changes aimed at expanding classroom access to digital tools and simplifying district communications.

Michael Ehrensdorf, chief technology officer, told the board the presentation was grounded in classroom outcomes, using a second-grade student’s biography project to illustrate how remote interviews and assistive tools improved engagement. “This is not about the technology. It’s about what Louie just talked about,” Ehrensdorf said, referencing a student presentation earlier in the meeting.

The district’s recommendations include a student-device refresh that staggers iPad and Chromebook leases and extends iPad refresh cycles to five years. Ehrensdorf said the district typically refreshes student devices every four years but is recommending a five-year plan for the newest iPads to capture the improved device capacity of the recently released models.

Key procurement and finance details presented to the board:

- Vendors: The district ran an RFP with roughly 40 responses and held 16 focus groups; Lenovo was identified as the Chromebook vendor under consideration and Logitech keyboard cases were selected for many elementary iPad deployments.
- Timing and tariffs: Ehrensdorf said the district was timing Chromebook quotes ahead of tariff changes scheduled to take effect April 25; locking in quotes before that date would avoid additional tariff-driven costs.
- Grants and offsets: The presentation cited prior federal funding, including an Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) award in 2021 that reimbursed about $1.25 million and an E-Rate reimbursement of roughly $400,000 for recent infrastructure work. The district expects a conservative $250,000 in device buyback/resale proceeds to offset first-year costs.
- Leasing options: Apple offers a 0% financing lease for iPads over four years; Chromebook financing and lease terms were also discussed, with staff recommending a mix of four- and five-year leases to smooth budgetary impact. Ehrensdorf said the district has budgeted $1 million annually for technology refreshes and expects the recommendations to remain within that envelope.

Stakeholder outreach: Staff said the plan was informed by teacher, student and parent surveys and focus groups. Technology staff described assistive-technology use cases (text-to-speech, co-writer, accessibility accommodations) and said these features benefit many students, not only those with formal IEPs.

Unified communications / VoIP proposal

The board also discussed a separate, but related, recommendation to migrate the district’s phone system to a cloud-based unified communications platform. Presenters said they evaluated multiple vendors and landed on a cloud solution (vendor named in the staff memo) that would consolidate phone lines, conferencing and third‑party services like fax and SIP trunks, yielding operational simplification.

Staff estimated the five-year cost of the unified communications transition would be about $33,000 more than the district’s current telecom costs but said the new solution would eliminate separate contracts (fax, SIP, conferencing licenses) and provide new flexibility, such as soft-phone capability on staff devices and a single vendor relationship for telephony and conferencing. Staff said the village has already moved to the vendor and that the district explored consortium buying with nearby districts to reduce costs.

Next steps and approvals

Staff said they will finalize contracts and bring formal action items to the board at an upcoming meeting (the district identified April 22 on the agenda preview). The presentation also noted that staff will develop a community implementation plan with family-facing supports about new tools and filters, and that the district is drafting guidance about artificial intelligence use in classrooms.

Board members asked about extending staff-device refresh cycles, the availability of device monitoring and filtering options for Apple devices, and whether some staff device refreshes should be delayed to reduce overlap in annual expenses. Ehrensdorf and Director of IT Will Breckett responded with specifics about vendor limitations, Apple’s management constraints and the district’s lease timing.

No final purchase or contract was approved during the April 8 meeting; staff will return with final contract documents and a recommendation for board action at a subsequent meeting.","District 97 technology staff presented a multi-year technology plan including a proposed student device refresh, Chromebook and iPad leases timed to tariff and grant windows, and a planned move to a cloud-based unified communications system. The board will consider formal approval at an upcoming meeting.",{"_33":89,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":90,"_41":91,"_43":92,"_45":93,"_47":94,"_49":95,"_51":96,"_53":97,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":98,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":99,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6081094,"Parents, students tell Oak Park D97 board they feel unsafe after alleged incidents; request action",301,72000,373000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2943863-d94dc0caa3b5729747cafdb4bfb768aa&start=72&end=373","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2943863-d94dc0caa3b5729747cafdb4bfb768aa/thumbnail_72000.jpg","/articles/6081094/Illinois/Parents-students-tell-Oak-Park-D97-board-they-feel-unsafe-after-alleged-incidents-request-action","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6081094-0f29dcab27438955e5bd60ca2d21931c/orig.mp4?Expires=1770600381&Signature=kOYdzbDwDoZ3ccmZTMmtMmx~cUhgpnpwNfrnTEN1-6mZhkL9BFoDaiTfbBElBaT3duUN1di46~F9Qq~u~dqfJx9ijTMQ21dBC15OdfYkZ10RnZXfU8btP1KfaoxxNg71Ca-jyZUVHftHeQ5Zlij3uiYv9PT9z~JKHSDA5a3dirUIO4spyH4w5uDRmv-mV5D3htsMpLuCkZoUZ4B8J5dQIiwHn62iu9DZjsg93jCACpzBbSIcQ3WoTht9KSoOA5JxhnjxT7WNxT3ftXiQ7ch0iHjy081Nvu9Q7DOFp5BP-njdzpTw4lHPVYg5967TdP2x3JjVGEU7TL8uYs7iCKLg5g__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Several parents, students and a Julian School staff member used the board’s public-comment period Tuesday to accuse district employees of failing to protect students and to ask the Oak Park Elementary School District 97 Board of Education to intervene.

Parent Candice Ward told the board she has opened court proceedings and said she has tried for years to get district officials to respond to complaints about an adult alleged to have made a student uncomfortable. “I went to court yesterday and sat with my kids for 6 hours for a hearing just trying to get an order of protection for my babies so they can feel safe in the school,” Ward said during public comment.

Ward said she has filed a federal lawsuit and has repeatedly emailed the district asking for accountability for named staff members; she also said two of her children recently stopped attending school because they did not feel safe. Student Serena Griffin told the board she and her sister have been “constantly attacked” and are now being homeschooled; Griffin said she has kept up her classwork and that she and her sister have been removed from the track team despite continuing to place in meets. “We just wanna go back to school and feel safe and not [have] teachers harassing us,” Griffin said.

Marie Jones, identified herself as a classroom assistant at Julian School, spoke in support of students Serenity and Autumn Hall and said she found it “very disheartening” that the girls were removed from the track team. “They are very mild mannered children and we have no behavioral problems,” Jones said.

The comments named several district employees and referenced a person identified in public comment as John O’Brien. Ward said the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) had previously investigated and that a separate DCFS finding cleared a staff member she named. Ward and family members urged the board to take steps to ensure students who feel unsafe can return to school without losing extracurricular opportunities.

Board members did not take formal action during the public-comment period. At least two board members and the superintendent interjected to keep the public-comment time focused on statements rather than back-and-forth debate; one board member told Ward she would have an opportunity to bring her matter up at the appropriate time.

The district’s public-comment rules were read before speakers addressed the board; the board clerk noted the three-minute time limit for each speaker.

The district did not announce a response or a staff action during the meeting. The speakers asked for follow-up and for the district to respond to written communications they said they had sent. The board has no formal action recorded in the meeting minutes tied to these public comments.

The board’s agenda continued after public comment with presentations on technology planning and later routine votes.","Multiple public-comment speakers at the April 8 Oak Park Elementary School District 97 board meeting urged the district to respond to alleged safety incidents that they say led students to stop attending school and to be removed from extracurricular activities.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Board approves consent agenda, audit findings, shared-facilities IGA extension and an employee separation agreement

D97 board hears technology plan and recommends multi-year device refresh; cloud phone upgrade proposed

Parents, students tell Oak Park D97 board they feel unsafe after alleged incidents; request action